Writing the Western Landscape Book

An Empty Sky by Frank Drury

An empty story. Part mystery and part general fiction, this story was for me a real head scratcher. While some events in the story are pointless, other parts are good. The story just doesn't gel as a whole.

Young Virginia and her boyfriend have a tragedy at sea. A hurricane is on its way, yet they go out sailing. Was the hit to their catamaran purposeful or an accident?

The girl's father disappears for lengthy bits of time with no purpose, along with other gaps in the story creating a problem with continuity in the tale. On the other hand, there are endless details on what the character Cecil eats for every meal for days on end.

Several characters who had no real purpose are introduced, a minor character ends up being a major player at the end, and political events are woven into the epilogue. Some tightening up and rewrites would help this book go from meh to good.